Ringu Tulku Rinpoche speaks about Meditation

According to the instructions, first we keep our meditation postures right,

that is mainly to sit straight, and look directly in front of us.

We remind ourselves of the Four Reminders.

The first: life is precious.

There are lots of things in our life that we need to appreciate,

and we think about those.

We have lots of special powers,

so we can do something good for others and for ourselves as well.

We should not waste this life, especially by being unhappy

and just letting it go, trying to survive.

We have to find a way for lasting happiness for ourselves and others.

If that is not possible, at least we should find a way for ourselves

to be joyful in this life.

This is a precious life, but everything changes.

There is nothing in the whole world or in the whole universe

that does not change.

And the change is not just long term, it is momentary,

every moment is gone, is gone -

Good times change, bad times change, difficult times change,

nice times change, too

So therefore, it’s not possible, it’s not good, it’s not useful

to hang on to things that go on.

Whether its difficult times,

whether its hurtful things that happen to you,

it’s no use holding on to any of them.

So, we have to just let the time pass, and let the things go.

And in the same way, every moment passes and things come,

and we cannot stop that.

So whatever needs to come will come -

whether it’s emotions, whether it’s thoughts,

whether it’s different kinds of happenings.

And so there is no use, there is no need to worry too much.

We just need to take care of the present.

There is lots of suffering around,

there are lots of people who have problems, pain, suffering –

in this world and elsewhere.

Every being has its own problems, sufferings, dissatisfaction,

its own weaknesses, and wants to be free from them.

And I am one of these beings too,

so I have all those weaknesses, problems, sufferings,

disadvantages and advantages.

But it is no use to feel only bad about them,

because just feeling bad about problems and sufferings doesn’t make it better.

So I make a point to do my best and live through the problems and pain

as joyfully as possible.

Instead of feeling sorrow, miserable, discouraged and frustrated,

I must do something, whatever I can, no matter how little,

to work for the betterment of beings -

and of myself, too.

Since all this pain and suffering and problems is basically a state of mind,

and they all come from different causes and conditions,

especially, the negative emotions, the wrong way of seeing,

and my strong negative habitual tendencies,

I would like to work on them, and transform them,

and I would like to help all other beings to do that, too.

Therefore I would like to work for the benefit of all sentient beings, like myself -

throughout the entire universe, however long it takes, however hard it may be,

even if there is no help from anywhere -

I need to do it and I will work on it.

In order to do that, I take the example of the enlightened beings of the past,

the blessings from them,

help and guidance from them.

Therefore, I invoke them in front of me,

and I feel the presence of all the enlightened beings in front of me –

in form of the refuge tree or whatever.

I invoke all the Buddhas, all the Bodhisattvas,

all the great beings of the past, present, and future

to give me help, encouragement, blessings,

and to give me the transmission of their mind,

so that I am able to recognize my inner wisdom and to help all sentient beings.

When I make this strong invocation,

I feel in front of me either Vajradhara, or in form of Buddha Shakyamuni,

or in form of Karmapa, or any Buddhas or bodhisattvas

that we feel connected to.

And that Buddha or Bodhisattva is inseparable from all the enlightened beings

of every tradition, spiritual path and including my own root guru.

From their heart, lights radiate and enter into my heart.

And I feel that I am being blessed.

My own compassion and wisdom,

and the ordinary or basic Buddha nature is awakened,

and fills my body, fills it with transforming energy.

The lights radiating from the heart of my lama, from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas touch all sentient beings throughout space

and all of them are being purified, healed, and transformed.

It is possible, at this time,

to do the Vajrasattva practice by transforming the guru into the form of Vajrasattva,

and say the Vajrasattva mantra as well.

Then, as a form of my gratitude

for this transformation of myself and other sentient beings,

for the healing and purification of myself and all sentient beings,

I create a cloud of offerings of everything that is wonderful, positive and desirable,

and I make an offering to all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout space.

With that, all beings feel joyful and liberated,

and I feel completely peaceful and accomplished in my task of having helped all beings.

In that space, I relax,

and I relax without especially concentrating on anything -

just feeling, at this very moment.

None of my senses are blocked,

but not particularly focused on anything,

that my consciousness – which is aware and clear –

be naturally aware, clear and relaxed.

Any sounds you hear, let it happen.

Let it be, and relax in it.

Any thoughts that arise, let it be and relax in that.

It is not necessary that anything disturbs you.

Your mind is not into the past, not into the future,

not grasping at the present.

Directly non-conceptually be at this present moment.

When your mind moves again,

feel that from the three points of your Buddha, your Guru, or from Vajrasattva -

from the forehead, throat center, and heart center -

white light, red light, and blue light radiate

and enter into your three centers.

And feel that all the blessings and transformations of the body, speech, and mind

of enlightened beings has been received by you.

And you feel that your body, speech, and mind has transformed

into that enlightened being.

You relax in the non conceptual direct experience -

the clear light -

direct awareness without conceptual interpretation.

At the end, the refuge tree dissolves into the root guru,

the root guru dissolves into light,

and that light dissolves into yourself.

You feel that your mind and the enlightened mind become one and inseparable.

The nature of your mind is the Buddha nature.

It has the qualities of the three Kayas.

This consciousness that there is not anything that you can find –

no color, no shape, no form, nothing that you can hold in any way -

that is what is sometimes called the emptiness aspect of the mind,

and that is sometimes called Dharmakaya.

Although there is nothing you can find,

whether you look from outside or inside,

there is always this clear light, the clarity,

unceasing clear light,

sometimes more aware, sometimes a deeper level of awareness,

a subtle level of awareness -

but all the time unceasing awareness.

And that’s the clarity aspect of the mind, sometimes called Sambhogakaya.

Within that clarity awareness state of mind

every different kind of things can arise and manifest:

thoughts, emotions, sensations, perceptions.

Anything can arise spontaneously.

All nice things, not nice things, positive things, negative things, various things, everything can appear,

continuously arise,

spontaneously arise.

Nothing can stop them arising.

And that is the manifesting aspect of the mind sometimes called Nirmanakaya.

And all those manifestations arise out of that Dharmakaya,

out of this emptiness,

and dissolve into that emptiness.

Therefore all those manifestations are like your own radiations.

Therefore it neither harms you nor helps you.

It’s your own radiation,

it’s your own light.

There is no use, no need to fear or feel attached to, or crave those manifestations.

Therefore, you don’t need to run away from thoughts, emotions, and sensations

nor to run after them.

To run away from our own thoughts and emotions is

like trying to run away from our own shadow.

So let them be,

relax in them,

laugh at them.

And if you can do that

it’s called self liberating your thoughts and emotions.

Self liberation means liberating on its own.

So therefore, there is nothing to do -

just to relax,

just to be happy,

just to be lazy.

There is nothing to meditate.

Let us celebrate that.

And that celebration is the dedication.